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EGGBERT: Hi! I'm Robar Eggbert of the Samarduk Tribune.
GRINKEL: And I'm Steen Grinkel of the Samarduk Sun.
EGGBERT: And you're watching "At the Talkies with Eggbert and Grinkel".
GRINKEL: Grinkel and Eggbert
EGGBERT: In your dreams, Steen! Now we've got a lot to cover in today's episode, from stories of corporate espionage to cautionary tales of evil sofas and destructive monkeys.
GRINKEL: My esteemed colleague is referring to the three films we'll be dissecting today: "The Mole: Undercover Inside Ghost In A Bottle", "Dread Couch: The Sofa That Kills", and "Metamorphers vs. Giant Ape: The Motion Picture".
EGGBERT: Let's start with "The Mole". In this captivating documentary, gonzo journalist Jager S. MacTavish infiltrates the nefarious Ghost in a Bottle conglomerate to bring us a riveting account of the tech giant's day-to-day operations..
GRINKEL: This extremely biased documentary was funded by the radical Mothers Against GIAB International (MAGI), and boy does it show! When it's not too busy slandering a vital pillar of the global economy, it does provide a few interesting insights into the highly-anticipated Octopus City Blues project.
EGGBERT: Despite the corporation's heightened security and leak-prevention measures, Mr. MacTavish successfully managed to assemble a collage of super-secret artwork, providing a glimpse into never-before-seen areas and characters.
EGGBERT (CONT'D): Furthermore, various cryptic codewords and phrases were heard around the office, with employees working on enigmatic features such as "House of Wonders", "Cure for Baldness", "Beetle Fandom", and "Three-way Standoff". Who knows what any of it really means?
GRINKEL: Our supposed "journalist" also interviewed artist Niko Tunson, the newest addition to the team. Niko contributed a number of exquisite animations, helping to enrich the simulation's virtual world and bring its colorful cast of characters to life.
EGGBERT: I personally liked "The Mole". On one hand, it's largely a cornball exercise in sentimental manipulationparticularly all the scenes involving the baby spiderbot. At the same time, it effectively illustrates the evil lurking at the heart of a heartless zaibatsu, and serves as a scathing indictment of a history of delays and flimsy excuses.
GRINKEL: Boy, are we apart on this one, Robar! The feature I watched was nothing more than an obvious piece of MAGI propaganda, and I'm positively shocked that someone as educated as you would fall for it.
GRINKEL (CONT'D): I admit that Octopus City Blues is taking forever to complete, but you simply can't rush art. The good folks at GiaB have gotten so much done this yearthey even updated the demo again last week. All you have to do is read their previous updates to better understand the delays. In particular, there's the recurring difficulty in planning around the fluctuating personal circumstances of everyone involved.
And did you even catch the leaked trailer shown after the credits, by the way? It was originally unveiled at the Six One Indie business event. The trailer's director is none other than Bitmapkid, the visionary auteur behind last year's most controversial independent film: "Are Videogames Art?" The fact that they're actively promoting their simulation should dispel any doubts you might harbor.
[previewyoutube=_9qu9D1p-1g;full][/previewyoutube]
EGGBERT: Oh, don't give me that trite art balderdash. The only thing that matters is the finished product. People have been waiting for years, and some of them even paid money for it. What's wrong? By the rude and annoying off-screen noises you're making I take it that you disagree
GRINKEL: It's just that Ghost in a Bottle never stopped pursuing their dreams, and that's why we should never stop believing in them. They definitely made countless mistakes, but every ghost starts out as an errant human. And if someone out there is still not satisfied, the customer relations team is always happy to answer their questions or offer refunds if needed.
Honestly, Robar, all of this makes me wonder whether you're being a contrarian for kicks, or if you simply got up on the wrong side of the bed today. Your take is the typical kind of blas, sophisticated, cynical review we've come to expect from snobbish critics who can't place themselves in the shoes of real artists.
EGGBERT: Am I supposed to sit here and listen to insults from the same "critic" who gave two thumbs up to obnoxious snooze fests like "Carnotaurus" and "Battlestar Trooper"?
GRINKEL: And do I need to remind you that you're the only major critic who actually liked "One and a Half Pig"? And how about the time you lambasted the critically acclaimed "Silence of the Clams"?
EGGBERT: Oh please, Steen! Did GiaB pay you to be their mouthpiece? Is that what this is all about? I knew things were rough with the divorce and everything, but if all you needed was some extra money
GRINKEL: Why would you say such a thing, Robar? You really should be ashamed of yourself!
EGGBERT: I'm not the one engaged in all the self-congratulatory bootlicking and outright dismissal of completely valid consumer concerns. My point still stands: when is Octopus City Blues actually coming out?
GRINKEL: I don't have an answer to your question. Next year, maybe? Some time in the next 6 months? They did promise to give a "more serious" update before the end of the year, whatever that means
EGGBERT: Of course it's next year! It's always next year! But fine I'll believe it when I finally see it.
GRINKEL: We've wasted enough time on this frivolous discussion. Moving on, let's talk about the complex symbolism in "Dread Couch: The Sofa That Kills", and what it says about humanity's place in a cold, lonely universe.
Rustday, Newt 7, 244
Day 13 of the Containment Experiment
Played poker with Dr. Fidge and the others. Vermin was obviously cheating but Walls kept jumping to his defense. I don't know what she sees in a sleazy creep like him but I suppose it's none of my business.
Dr. Fidge said that the experiment is going well and the Field is holding. He tried to explain it to me again, but it went in one ear and out the other. All I got is that the experiment is now part of the prestigious Tiny Teams conference and that's apparently a really good thing? Woohoo, I guess...
Note: apparently the powers that be are using an older Field interaction video by some streaming celebrity to promote the event. Weird!
Fleaday, Newt 8, 244
Day 14
Stuck on guard duty with Stutter again. There's not much to talk about. Vermin and Walls finally finished synthesizing and animating all the required "graveyard sprites": visual attachment points to draw the ectoplasm entities into the Containment Field. "The sprites make the Field come to life and feel like a real ectoplasm habitat", as Walls put it.
I have a terrible headache and can't sleep. Wonder how Mom's doing...
Smogday, Newt 9, 244
Day 15
Dr. Fidge asked me to gear up and enter the Field. Not the best way to start the day, but it's not like I have a choice. Today they were demoing the experiment to a group of military commanders. How many times do we have to update the experiment's parameters for these demonstrations?
We did manage to correct a long-standing fault in the Field's boundaries that occasionally prevented it from responding to the controller's input, so it's not all bad.
Gruelday, Newt 10, 244
Day 16
I had a medical checkup with Dr. Henrietta today. She said there's nothing wrong with me physically, but gave me some sleeping pills.
Something's definitely wrong with Dr. Fidge. Stutter asked him about the experiment's end date and Fidge got visibly upset. "We're all doing our best here! I'll have a date for you soon enough". I wonder what's eating him?
Mossday, Newt 11, 244
Day 17
Apparently they extracted part of the ectoplasm and packaged it into a miniature field with its own dedicated page on the Steam academic publishing platform. The marketing folks even recorded a new "trailer" for it, like it's the latest summer blockbuster.
[previewyoutube=gdDDrIGVbBo;full][/previewyoutube]
Walls and Dr. Fidge keep arguing. She thinks the ectoplasm extraction will weaken the Field's structural integrity. Dr. Fidge said he's under a lot of pressure and had to give the Ghost in a Bottle shareholders something to market.
Oh, and the pills worked. I slept like a slime baby, although I still feel terrible.
Rustday, Newt 17, 244
Day 23
No time to update this diary. Really sick and also dealing with the Containment breach. We laid Vermin and Walls to rest today. This isn't what I signed up for...
Smogday, Newt 19, 244
Day 25
I woke up feeling funny. Another tooth fell off. Stutter, Dr. Fidge, and I are quarantined. Dr. Henrietta says it will be alright, but I don't trust her.
Gruelday, Undead 5, 244
Day ??
They're all dead. Dr. Fidge was the last one. I'm sorry. Too hungry. The Field is unstable. Rips in the universe...
I'm coming home, Mom...
TLDR: Unfortunately we had to push back our planned release date again. We don't have a new date yet, but we're trying our best to bring you Octopus City Blues as soon as humanly possible. We're very sorry about that. The rest of the update will go over some of the things we've been working on and provide additional context for the delay.
Hello everyone. This is your host Kaftan von Kaffeeklatsch and you're listening to the Cosmic Millipede Podcast, the show about rocket ships, red quasars, and the search for extraterrestrial life. Before getting to today's interview, I'd like to apologize for the delay since our last episode. We've been quite busy preparing content for the new year, so it took more time than expected.
Today's sponsor is the Ghost in a Bottle Consortium. Do check out their upcoming Octopus City Simulation that's coming soon. You can already download a lengthy demo on Steam. Oh, and if you're reading the transcript after the episode, we took the liberty of adding the latest Octopus City Blues screenshots for you to admire.
Our guest today needs no introduction. I'm talking about the infamous business tycoon, the world's wealthiest person, and the founder of Kosmomash Rockets, Constantin Mandibule. Unless you've been living under a rock for the last ten years, I'm sure you're familiar with Kosmomash's long-awaited projects: the first privately-developed rocket to carry tourists to the moon, and the ambitious luxury resort they're building over there.
Monsieur Constantin Mandibule, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to have this chat.
It's my pleasure, Kaftan. And please, there's no need for formalities. Just call me ConManall my friends do.
Uh all right, Monsieur Conman. Last year was a very important one for Kosmomash, wasn't it?
Absolutement! It was also differentmuch more business-focused than previous years. Between showcasing our rocket prototypes publicly and at industry events, talking to potential partners, and onboarding new talent, comparatively less time was spent on developing rocket components. These activities were all essential for establishing a strong promotional foundation for this year's big launch. With that out of the way, we are currently back to focusing on construction.
How exciting! The prototype you unveiled during the Next Fest Aerospace Convention caused quite a stir among the attendees. Could you tell us more about it?
What I can tell you, Kaftan, is that it took a lot of hard work to finally get the prototype out the door. It was useful preparation for our final launch, too. For example, working with STEAM's [Editor's Note: Space Tourism Enforcement And Monitoring agency] launch regulations and cloud computing infrastructure forced us to optimize our release processes.
The feedback we received from the attendees was extremely valuable as well; while some of the casualties were avoidable, we continue to learn from every tragedy. Au fait, we just published a new version of our prototype specs a couple of weeks ago, fixing many issues encountered by real users in the wild.
The accidents were regrettable, but the altar of technology demands its sacrifices. What are some of the lessons learned from the launch of the prototype?
Euh... much of it has to do with improving the user experience. For example, our DAISY module is programmed to react to the needs of space tourists. However, as post-war treaties ban the use of AI, we have to manually write responses to every potential user query. Watching so many lab raerr, people, try the demo helped us identify hundreds of new DAISY responses.
Another finding from the handful of unfortunate incidents was that the control systems were not very intuitive to first-time users. As the average space tourist isn't a trained pilot, we had to place large signs all over the space modulereally obvious warnings such as "Keep the windows closed after launch", "Repeatedly press the red button to breathe", or "Carefully arrange the fusion matrix stack if the gradient is inverted".
There were, en outre, numerous fixes and rocket engine performance improvements. We also introduced two new cockpit views to track the current flight status: the Facts And Figures screen displays various metrics during and at the end of the trip, while the Calendar App keeps track of all the space debris collected along the flight path.
That's very interesting. The prototype must be much safer now, especially compared to the versions you tested at the INDIGO SKIES and SpaceAdventureX events last year.
Tout fait! And let's not forget the Independent Rocketry Showcase, the Test & Fly event, and the numerous people who tried our prototype rocket kit at home and streamed it online. We're really thankful to everyone who got injured to get us closer towards uncovering the dark mysteries of the great beyond.
And closer to lining your pockets, no doubt. Moving on, you mentioned hiring new colleagues.
Oui, c'est juste. People are surprised when I say this, Kaftan, but I've been writing all of the company's press releases from the very beginning. I simply enjoy doing it! *laughs*. English is obviously not my mother tongue, and so a lot of mistakes were made. Thankfully, we now have a professional editor, Julia Seeholzer, to help us sort out all the there's, theirs, and they'res!
More recently, Shannon Mason, the celebrated composer also known as Pongball, has joined the team, and is already working on some exciting tunes. Some of these will be played during the long elevator rides to the underground mines beneath the lunar resort. Manual space labor doesn't have to be boring, after all!
Are we still talking about space tourists? Anyway, with all the feedback, exposure, and new colleagues, it sounds like you're on target for this year's big launch. What are you working on these days?
Like I said, the focus is finally back to developing new things. Last year we worked on a western themed area in the planned resort. We're wrapping that up while also constructing a magnificent coliseum and an underwater village. There's a lot going on behind the scenes that we can't talk about yet. We want it to be une grande surprise for our precious guests.
As for the planned launch, it's still going according to plan, and we're doing our best to meet our summer targets. With that said, the prototype showed us that no matter how much testing we do, actual users will keep uncovering all the bugs I mean, easter eggs, we intentionally add. Quality Assurance remains the biggest unknown at the moment.
On the other hand, we've invested in a very solid foundation over the years, and everyone's doing their best to finally give humanity the salvation it so desperately needs. One way or another, I'm confident that this year is the year of Kosmomash. After all, we only need to ensure that half the tourists actually make it to the moon. How hard can it be?
Who knows? It's not like we're talking about rocket science or anything. In any case, thank you, Monsieur Conman, for your valuable time, and good luck with your ambitious plans for this year. I hope we get to talk again after the first batch of tourists make it to the moon.
Moi aussi! Thank you for having me, Herr Kaftan.
Watch riggy2k3 take a stab at the Octopus City Blues demo during the AdventureX conference Steam event. Check the event for discounts and the chance to try a handful of awesome games.
Octopus City Blues is a surreal simulation of life on a giant octopus. Assume the rule of an eccentric tentacle trimmer applying for a seedy corporation. Acquire illicit substances, uncover dark secrets, and teach slimy children in an adventure about everything and nothing.
Try our lengthy demo and explore the various branching paths and optional quests. If you like what you see, please support us by following the project on Steam and adding it to your wishlist.
Thanks to riggy2k3 for kindly allowing us to use the footage: https://www.twitch.tv/riggy2k3
Watch some gameplay footage from the Octopus City Blues demo.
Octopus City Blues is a surreal simulation of life on a giant octopus. Assume the rule of an eccentric tentacle trimmer applying for a seedy corporation. Acquire illicit substances, uncover dark secrets, and teach slimy children in an adventure about everything and nothing.
Check out our lengthy demo, with branching paths and many optional quests to experience. If you like what you see, please support us by following the project on Steam and adding it to your wishlist.
Thanks to riggy2k3 for kindly allowing us to use the footage. This is an edited version of the original video, which can be found on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duqlmIal9ro
Sorry about all the livestream event posts. Steam requires special events for different kinds of livestreams and we also ran into some technical issues. Hopefully this one will be the last one for Steam Next Fest.
Watch riggy2k3 take a stab at the Octopus City Blues demo during this featured Steam Next Fest Livestream.
Octopus City Blues is a surreal simulation of life on a giant octopus. Assume the rule of an eccentric tentacle trimmer applying for a seedy corporation. Acquire illicit substances, uncover dark secrets, and teach slimy children in an adventure about everything and nothing.
Check out our lengthy demo, with branching paths and many optional quests to experience. If you like what you see, please support us by following the project on Steam and adding it to your wishlist.
Thanks to riggy2k3 for kindly allowing us to use the footage: https://www.twitch.tv/riggy2k3
Check out some gameplay footage from Octopus City Blues during this featured Steam Next Fest Livestream
Check out some gameplay from the Octopus City Blues demo!
We're happy to announce the availability of the cross-platform Octopus City Blues demo! Check it out on our Steam page and spread the word!
[previewyoutube=S0qtMezQt08;full][/previewyoutube]
Note that the demo will remain available (everywhere) after the event. If you run into any issues or have some feedback, let us know on Discord or the Steam community hub. The demo is lengthy and can take 2-3 hours to complete. It represents almost one third of the full content.
We're currently setting up the livestream for the event. Expect another announcement soon with the exact date and info.
You might've noticed that the release date has been pushed back to the second quarter of next year. We're sorry about that, but preparing this demo took more time than expected. It did involve a lot of necessary work for the full version as well. This included extensive testing, integrating with Steam, automating our build process, supporting cross-platform cloud saves, making many play testing improvements, and editing over thirty thousand words of dialogue (and that's just half of the demo's script).
It's always been challenging to demo Octopus City Blues. Quests are designed with a lot of cross-references and freedom in how you tackle them. There are numerous systems to teach the player, and many characters to interact with. You might find exploring the city overwhelming or convoluted at times (we're still working on it!), but it's also the kind of experience that rewards exploration and multiple playthroughs. We hope that you'll enjoy it as much as we have putting it all together.
We're going to work on promoting and improving the demo for the rest of October. Afterwards, we'll finally be able to focus solely on finishing up the remaining content for the full version. Releasing this demo was important to us, as we really need some additional visibility before release. That's why we'd appreciate it if you tell other people about it.
I'd like to thank all the Ghost in a Bottle team members and collaborators for passionately bringing this monstrosity to life. This especially goes to Marina and Julia for all the work they've put into improving the demo's graphics and dialogue over the past couple of months. Also thanks to Flix Braconnier, Joo Anto, Renan Carvalho, Elena Zaffaroni and Christian Hoffmann for helping translate the Steam page into various languages.
Of course, we have to thank you and all our fans and testers throughout the years for your tremendous patience and support. We'll do our best to get you hooked up with the full dosage of profane octopus city rituals as soon as possible!
Attention: Supreme Space Fleet Commander Qor-Oh VI
Regarding aberrant radio signal 6EQUJ5 originating from the AL3002 system, Galaxy Sector D2. Decryption by GRUE bio-compute matrix successful. Identified primitive species of meat-based organisms with self-designation: HUMAN.
Most of the inhabitants of the third planet, AL3002-C work for a large commercial entity known as Ghost in a Bottle. Contrary to initial fleet assessment, radio signal picked by deep space probes in D2 was not intentional. It only contains updates sent from one Ghost in a Bottle office to another concerning the status of "Octopus City Blues", a primitive cybernetic simulation.
Photo by Max Mijs Brouwer
Signal is composed of four messages. Summary of first message, titled JUNE:
Greetings octo-pundits,
Octopus City Blues is now scheduled for an early 2024 release. We tried our best to meet the 2023 deadline we'd originally set for ourselves, but things got in the way (shocking!). The extra time will help us further polish the simulation, while also giving us the space to promote the project ahead of the release.
[previewyoutube=S0qtMezQt08;full][/previewyoutube]
We also decided to participate in the October edition of the Steam Next Fest event instead of this month's. With that said, we're currently inviting people to test a new build that will serve as the basis for the eventual public demo. If you want to give it a spin and help us test it, join us on Discord.
Much was done in the last five months: wrapping up quests, working on the cowboy dreams, fixing numerous bugs, bundling the simulation's data in one big archive, introducing in-game awards, and acting on December's play testing feedback. We also paid more attention to marketing, producing a new teaser trailer, and posting more often on social media (including a post on reddit).
As for the delay, the personal circumstances of more than one team member have changed considerably in the last few months. You can imagine how big the impact of temporarily losing one member of a tiny team would be, and the well-being of the team is more important than any deadline. Thankfully, everyone is starting to get back to their usual pace.
In January our plan allowed for a release in October or November. As the delays accumulated we tried simplifying future work and cutting content, but you can only do that to a certain point. One option under consideration is to get outside help for the final push, but these discussions take time as well.
I mentioned marketing, something we've neglected over the years. While getting Octopus City Blues done is still our priority, we want people to find out about it as well. That involves talks with several potential partners, engaging with social media, and participating in events. Questions such as the possibility and timing of console releases, achievements, and integration with storefronts are also being discussed.
All that to say that the closer we get to release, the more there is to do, including marketing, QA, events, localization, and of course actually finishing up the thing! Testing is particularly tricky when dealing with a branching narrative experience like Octopus City Blues. That's why we'd really appreciate it if you can join us on Discord and test our new build.
[previewyoutube=JWOmlCf4cXo;full][/previewyoutube]
I'm still very happy with the work we're doing so far. Playing the latest build, the world feels rich and fully realized; there's so much to explore and do in the city, to the point that it still surprises me whenever I completely forget that you also have the option of doing X instead of Y or Z. I hope you and all the players will appreciate all the love that's been poured into our little monstrosity over the years.
To conclude, we're aiming for early 2024 at the moment. If all goes according to plan, there will be a new release date trailer in time for the October Steam Next Fest. Stay tuned, and thanks for your understanding and support!
To those who dream of octo hellscapes,
Last year was a special year for Octopus City Blues. The funding and advice provided by Midgame Fund allowed us to fully concentrate on development, and we got a lot done. The focus was on wrapping up 8 story quests, implementing the remaining mechanics (tentacle watering, day progression, saving/loading data), and making it easier to test/debug our work. What's left is finishing and testing 6 quests + the ending.
We also released a couple of builds for play testers in 2022. In addition to fixing many bugs and making things more intuitive, the feedback resulted in new features such as highlighting nearby exits, or allowing Kaf to take a nap.
Throughout last year, we closely followed a road map with the goal of releasing the simulation in Q4 2023. That's still our goal, but only if we can release something that's not buggy or incomplete. As always, we'll keep you updated in the coming months, and will announce a more concrete release date once we're closer to the finish line.
If everything goes according to plan, we'd like to release a demo for the summer edition of Steam Next Fest. Additionally, one more play testing session is planned closer to the final release.
Thanks for your patience and support. We're almost there!
Greetings from your Ghost in a Bottle corporate overlords,
We're happy to announce that Octopus City Blues was selected to receive funding and support from the Midgame Fund, a group of Dutch developers who invest in locally developed games (and octopus city simulations that are totally not games, obviously). This isn't a publishing deal, and the developer-friendly terms of the Midgame Fund guarantee that we still have full control over the amount of obscene tentacle puns we can fit into the simulation, so please put down those torches and pitchforks.
So what does it mean for you? Mostly a much higher possibility to receive the full version sooner than you would've without this funding. The money will allow our main developer to work full time on finishing the simulation, while getting valuable advice from a group of accomplished game developers. The lack of dedication and time has always been the limiting factor in development, so with this we'll literally have no more excuses!
Kaf's room over the years
The majority of this month and some of the next month will be spent talking to people in the Midgame Fund and drafting a more detailed and realistic plan for the next year. One of the things that might change is whether we still need to split the project into two parts, or if it can be released as one simulation. There are several considerations to each option and it has an effect on whether you'll get to play (a public version) next year or in 2023. Expect to hear much more on that in January's update.
That's all for now. Let us know what you think or if you have any questions.
We'll leave you with a hastily put together trailer we did for PitchYaGame. Nothing you haven't seen before, but it's been a while since the last one. Check out our new landing page too!
[previewyoutube=StQBI-tITPo;full][/previewyoutube]
Credit goes to Finbeard for the awesome concept art of Kaf that appears in this update's cover image.
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